UNITED NATIONS, January 27. /TASS/. The West’s negative reaction to cooperation between Russia and Mali reveals its neo-colonial attitude, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said on Friday.
"Russia is offering all-around assistance to the Malian army, including in the area of enhancing its combat capabilities and personnel training," he said at a meeting of the UN Security Council. "Such cooperation, which is carried out at Bamako’s request and in strict compliance with the norms of international law, is yielding results. Mali’s armed forces are conducting successful counter-terrorism operations in the country’s central regions. Efforts are being made to liberate northern and eastern regions from militants."
"We think that the negative reaction of our Western colleagues to the strengthening of Russian-Malian cooperation is another manifestation of neo-colonial approaches, which, along with the lack of visible progress in course of the stabilization of the situation in Mali after decades of their military presence, have caused the Malians to make a decision to find new partners," Nebenzya said.